ICMA Retirement Corporation Marks
20th Year of Service to Public Sector

Robert E. Hancox, President and CEO of the ICMA Retirement Corporation
speaks to associates at RC's 20th Anniversary celebration.

The ICMA Retirement Corporation turned 20 years old in May, celebrating its historic role as the only public sector-created sponsor of retirement plans designed solely for public sector employees. The National League of Cities was a founding sponsoring organization of the Retirement Corporation in 1972, and continues its support today.

Speaking at RC's 20th Anniversary Celebration and Reception at Loew's L'Enfant Plaza Hotel, President and Chief Executive Officer Robert E. Hancox told 250 RC associates that "RC is poised to meet the growing retirement needs of public sector employers today and well into the next century."

Throughout the program, RC leaders extolled the company's growth from a simple idea to meet the need of city managers for a portable retirement benefit to one of the nation's 200 largest pension fund sponsors.

Today, RC plans provide retirement services to over 4,000 active employer accounts and over 160,000 active employee accounts, with more than $2.5 billion under management. At its origin in 1972, RC had one employer and one participant.

The celebration was also the forum to introduce RC's newest initiative, its Investment Services product that allows employers to take advantage of RC's money management expertise "unbundled" from the company's other retirement administration services. Investment Services is primarily designed for public sector defined benefit plans, where investment decisions are made by the employer (plan sponsor) rather than by the plan's participants.

Hancox also told RC associates to prepare for other exciting changes that will improve the corporation's efficiency, enhance productivity and allow RC to meet the needs of RC clients. "This is not change for change sake," Hancox said. "RC is ready to move ahead with a high degree of energy and meet the challenges presented by our clients."

According to Hancox, if RC is to provide its clients with the best retirement plans available it needs a "high ethical standard among our sales force, a highly-trained client services staff, technologies that are state-of-the-art in the industry, superior investment products and services, and the corporate culture to make it all happen."

RC was founded by a group of local government employees who recognized that existing retirement plans didn't address the special needs of public employees. Most notably, employees could not move their retirement benefits when they changed jobs. With assistance from the International City/County Management Association and a grant from the Ford Foundation, RC became the first organization to offer public employees nationally available, deferred compensation retirement plans that met this special need. In 1983, the Retirement Trust was established. It allowed participating employers, through Trustees, to take an active role in the management of their deferred compensation plans. Hancox thanked the trustees, board of directors, and sponsoring organizations, including the NLC, for their ongoing support of RC.

Throughout its history, RC has been at the forefront in providing public sector employees with innovative retirement products and services, including a no-annual-fee VISA card; a plan for part-time, seasonal and temporary employees; Advantage, a compensation plan designed for recruitment and retention; and the new Investment Services product. •

July 1992 / Illinois Municipal Review / Page 5